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Fergus Counfy's Greatest Asset; Her Potential Gold Mines May Prove olifesaver'
Some Remarks By "Limestoneo' Wilson
In the late fall of 1882 I first found the folat ore of the Gilt Edge mine. The next sunlmer I found
the lead and did considerable work on it, enough to show that there was a good-size ore body,
and that with more development it would make a good mine.
But I had no money and began to look around for someone to grubstake me for an interest in my
find. I did not apprehend any trouble in doing this, for I had been in the Black Hills several years
and knew that the merchants and other business men of that locality were anxious to grub-stake
prospectors for an interest in whatever the prospectors found, and I supposed all mining camps
were alike in that respect. I soon discovered my mistake. Skookum Joe, the original discoverer of
the mineral in the Judith Mountains, said he thought my prospect was too far down in the
foothills to amount to anything. That was enough. I was already a marked man. I had been
working on my prospects. The first locators in the camp were hunters and trappers, unused to
strenuous work like pounding a drill; and they did nothing on their claims except dig a discovery
hole. Once in a while they would bring in a piece of rich ore from their claim and get some
drinks on it while they posed as rich mine owners. I kept at work on my various prospects, for I
knew from my experience in quartz camps that a quartz mine had to be pretty well shown up
before capital would take hold of it. In a short time I became the target of both dire prophecies
and jocular remarks. Some people said I would work myself to death in less than 5 years. Many
said I was crazy and the Gilt Edge mine was regarded as a rich joke. All this did not tend to
enhance my reputation as a prospector or imbue anyone with an inclination to grubstake me.
There were very few men at Maiden who would grubstake anyone. And there was no one who
would grubstake an unsophisticated nut who was "digging in a lime reef." Not a soul ever came
near one of my claims, but they all knew I had nothing. But while I could not get a grubstake, I
was able to get some credit. I had a couple of partners in some of my claims and these fellows
stood a little higher in the camp than I did, for they did not work much. The goods we bought
were always charged to the f,rrm. Finally the paftners concluded there was too much work
connected with quarlz mining, and they left the camp between two days, leaving also the debts
for me to pay. The joint accounts and my individual debt now amounted to $1,350.00, and after
my partners skipped, the creditors became very insistent on my paying at once. There was plenty
of work, so I got a job and paid up the debts in something over a year.I went to work on the Gilt
Edge again and before long had ore enough in sight to justify the prediction that I would make a
mine. Lewistown had now become quite a town, so I tried to get someone there to go in with me
on a grub-stake basis. But I could not get anyone to even go look at the mine. Then I began to
write the capitalists whose names I saw in the papers. I was always able to interest my party and
arrange a deal. Before putting up any money, however, the man as a business precaution would
write to some merchant or banker to get a line on this man Wilson. When he received a reply, the
deal was off at once. I had five deals with outsiders knocked that way. I knew I had a mine and I
kept struggling along and working on it whenever I could get supplies until finally I got the mine

William E. Wilson was born at Berrien Springs, Michigan, on November 5, 1860. When he was eight years old he traveled with his parents to Holt County, Missouri, and received a common school education. Imbued with romantic ideas from reading frontier stories, the lad yearned to go west “to slaughter a few Indians or discover a gold mine”. He came as close as any man to realizing both dreams. Wilson landed in Maiden on April 15, 1882, without a dollar in his pocket. He made a grubstake working at placer mining, and then started prospecting. In the fall of 1883 he found an ore lead in the limestone around the edge of a ridge, and named it Gilt Edge. This article describes his mining activities. [some of the text is missing]

Fergus Counfy's Greatest Asset; Her Potential Gold Mines May Prove olifesaver'
Some Remarks By "Limestoneo' Wilson
In the late fall of 1882 I first found the folat ore of the Gilt Edge mine. The next sunlmer I found
the lead and did considerable work on it, enough to show that there was a good-size ore body,
and that with more development it would make a good mine.
But I had no money and began to look around for someone to grubstake me for an interest in my
find. I did not apprehend any trouble in doing this, for I had been in the Black Hills several years
and knew that the merchants and other business men of that locality were anxious to grub-stake
prospectors for an interest in whatever the prospectors found, and I supposed all mining camps
were alike in that respect. I soon discovered my mistake. Skookum Joe, the original discoverer of
the mineral in the Judith Mountains, said he thought my prospect was too far down in the
foothills to amount to anything. That was enough. I was already a marked man. I had been
working on my prospects. The first locators in the camp were hunters and trappers, unused to
strenuous work like pounding a drill; and they did nothing on their claims except dig a discovery
hole. Once in a while they would bring in a piece of rich ore from their claim and get some
drinks on it while they posed as rich mine owners. I kept at work on my various prospects, for I
knew from my experience in quartz camps that a quartz mine had to be pretty well shown up
before capital would take hold of it. In a short time I became the target of both dire prophecies
and jocular remarks. Some people said I would work myself to death in less than 5 years. Many
said I was crazy and the Gilt Edge mine was regarded as a rich joke. All this did not tend to
enhance my reputation as a prospector or imbue anyone with an inclination to grubstake me.
There were very few men at Maiden who would grubstake anyone. And there was no one who
would grubstake an unsophisticated nut who was "digging in a lime reef." Not a soul ever came
near one of my claims, but they all knew I had nothing. But while I could not get a grubstake, I
was able to get some credit. I had a couple of partners in some of my claims and these fellows
stood a little higher in the camp than I did, for they did not work much. The goods we bought
were always charged to the f,rrm. Finally the paftners concluded there was too much work
connected with quarlz mining, and they left the camp between two days, leaving also the debts
for me to pay. The joint accounts and my individual debt now amounted to $1,350.00, and after
my partners skipped, the creditors became very insistent on my paying at once. There was plenty
of work, so I got a job and paid up the debts in something over a year.I went to work on the Gilt
Edge again and before long had ore enough in sight to justify the prediction that I would make a
mine. Lewistown had now become quite a town, so I tried to get someone there to go in with me
on a grub-stake basis. But I could not get anyone to even go look at the mine. Then I began to
write the capitalists whose names I saw in the papers. I was always able to interest my party and
arrange a deal. Before putting up any money, however, the man as a business precaution would
write to some merchant or banker to get a line on this man Wilson. When he received a reply, the
deal was off at once. I had five deals with outsiders knocked that way. I knew I had a mine and I
kept struggling along and working on it whenever I could get supplies until finally I got the mine